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COMSTOCK,
TEXAS
Suggested slogan: "Get a Lode of Us."
Val Verde County, West
Texas
Hwys 90 & 163
29 miles NW of Del Rio
18 miles E of Langtry
Population: 400
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History
in a Pecan Shell
Named after a railroad dispatcher for the Galveston, Harrisburg
and San Antonio Railroad, Comstock came into being about 1883.
The original town site was just east of present Comstock and was called
Sotol City.
Like hundreds of towns in Texas, the post office appeared at the same
time as the first store. In this case the year was 1888 and the store
belonged to George Washington Ames. The Deaton Stage Line operated
between Comstock and Ozona for 22 years beginning in 1888. The population
was as low as 8 people during the depression, and reached a peak of
400 during WWII*.
Today Comstock is a little too close to Del Rio for travelers heading
west to need a rest stop so soon, and east-bound travelers probably
stopped in Langtry. The hilly terrain makes an interesting residential
section. The highway frontage is littered with failed businesses and
the liveliest building in town is the U.S. Border Patrol Station.
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NOT
the Comstock Water Tower
TE Photo |
The water tower stands in a residential backyard and may or may not
have once been the "official" Comstock water tower. It now serves
as a reservoir for a swimming pool.*
(See Comstock Forum)The present
condition of the water tower is not representative of the charming
community of Comstock. *Our source, as it often is, is the Handbook
of Texas Online.
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Comstock
Texas Forum
The Comstock
stage line was owned by George Deaton - Lou Lane, April 27, 2005
*I
was raised in Comstock, Texas and now make my home in Houston. The
water tower was constructed, as you mentioned, as a reservoir for
the swimming pool. It never served as the water tower for the town.
It is on private property but as a small child, I remember swimming
in the pool. - PKZ, December 13, 2004
© John Troesser
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